A day in the life of Jackson

Here are some photos from mommy's phone of me over the last couple weeks. I'm pretty cute, so enjoy!


P.S. I can't type and I told mommy to say this.

Having a meeting with all of my friends. They listen very well.

Daddy comes home from work and I put him to sleep while I play. Sleepy time Daddy!

Mommy had to see this eclipse and I don't understand that geek science stuff yet, but I will I'm sure.

I have so much fun playing with toys and all mom wants to do is take pictures and play with me. 

We go grocery shopping and now I'm big enough to sit in the cart without my carseat. I can see everything going on and I tell mom what we need next.

Now that it's getting warm hot outside I'm sure we'll be spending more time here. Is this a big bathtub?

Getting ready to go swimming, I have my own teething items sandals, sunglasses and outfit.

And when mom and dad go out places I must come along, where else would I go? I draw in the crowds because let's face it, I'm too cool.

I hope you enjoyed some photos. Mommy really needs to post some more on here, but she sure is one busy mommy. I love her so much. I think I'll sleep real good for her tonight so she is rested and then we can play lots more!

My Special Guy

"My next thirty years will be the best years of my life, raise a little family and hang out with my wife, spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear, make up for lost time here in my next thirty years." ~ Tim Mcgraw

The man himself. Mr. Dewey.

As stated in this quote shared by my special guy, I agree. No, I'm not 30 (yet) but he is. His birthday was on Friday. We went on an awesome trip to California and Sequoia National Park for his birthday, his request. We had a blast! My brother got to come along too. The three of us always have a great time together. Scratch that, a very SILLY time together. It's great. 






Happy Birthday to my love. I can't wait to spend the next 30+ years with you by my side.

These were back for his birthday 3 years ago. We went camping. Seems that's all he wants to do on his birthday, and always. It's a fun time.

Happy Birthday to my Joshy!

Did you see the eclipse?

Just some random photos from my phone. It seems I don't take enough pictures with my camera anymore and more with my phone, since it is always on me. I have to have something with me at all times since I have a little guy to watch and wouldn't want to miss any exciting moments. Or if the cat is doing something crazy. Same difference.

So here are a couple highlights randoms from last week. I promise I'll post some more that...make sense. 

Eclipse from last Sunday, taken with my phone. See the reflection in the red spot? Crazy!

Been on a frapp kick. Have you ever tried Captain Crunch? I'm addicted. Yes, I know I am.

Attempted to make P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps & a mix of Pioneer Woman's Lettuce Wraps. Good, but sub-par.

Kitchen Tales: Healthy Granola

The crunch. The sweetness. The smell. Granola. 

Hungry yet? Feel the need to go hike? I'll wait.

I love a good granola cereal with milk for breakfast. A granola bar to crunch on. A handful of granola to munch on as a snack. Granola is so versatile with what can be added, kind of like a trail mix; make your own "mix".

I came across a few different recipes on campingmeals.net while looking for things to make easy and quick. I didn't find any one recipe to use, so I used a couple different ones to come up with this one. It still needs to be tweaked a bit, but for a first batch, its not bad!

Homemade Granola Bars

5-6 cups old fashioned oats

2-3 tablespoons flax seed*

2 tablespoons wheat germ*

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup butter/margarine

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup agave nectar (or honey)

1/2 cup brown sugar

sunflower seeds

sliced almonds

optional: sunflower seeds, chocolate chips, dried fruit, nuts

*the healthy stuff. no taste changed. take it or leave it.

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cake pan/casserole dish with foil. I made this decision to help get the bars out of the pan without having them ALL fall apart. Thinking as if I'm making fudge. In a small sauce pan: melt brown sugar, butter, peanut butter, honey/nectar and vanilla extract. In a large, read LARGE bowl add oats, flax seed, wheat germ and any additions (nuts, fruit, seeds, etc). While sugar-y sweet stuff is melting line the pan with foil. Stir to melt. Once melted and warmed pour over dry ingredients and mix through to make sure everything dry gets wet. Spread out in foil covered pan. Bake in oven for 20 minutes. When you take it out of the oven, allow to cool for about 15 minutes. Cut and serve/store.

My problem: My bars didn't fully stay in bar form. While cutting them I could tell some were falling apart. Next time: Maybe more honey? 

The peanut butter added a great protein to the already healthy snack, and a nice flavor. I personally wasn't a huge fan of the sunflower seeds or almonds, next time I'll try some fruit. 

Super easy, quick, healthy snack.

Yum. An easy snack to make ahead of time for a road trip, hike, lunch snack, 2am hunger pain....

It's been a while

Hey there old friend :)

I know it has  been a while since I've posted much. Believe me I have a few really good pots, food too, just haven't had a lot of computer time and what time I do have I am spending with my teething, needy child. But I do enjoy being needed :)

I haven't forgot about you!

Seven Months

This guy is 7 months old! Time is just flying right by. We went to the pool the other day to test out the water and Jackson was so curious about it. He loves taking baths so it was just a glorified bath to him. He was so intrigued! 

So let's see some of his stats after 7 whole months of age:

He likes Pears, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Squash, Avocado, Banana, slightly Carrots and of course cereal. 

He's testing out the sippy cup and how to hold it with both hands. As for drinking out of it, he's just mastering holding it.

He puts EVERYTHING and ANYTHING in his mouth. 

Speaking of his mouth, he has 2 bottom teeth that came in about 3 weeks ago. Poor guy is still battling some pain. He's done so great though!

Still in size 2 diapers, almost bordering size 3.

Weighs 17 lbs (almost 18) and is 27 inches long. This guy is getting heavy!

He sleeps through the night still, though wakes up from time to time.

He has gotten much more needy and needs his mama. I can't blame him, I hate to be away from him too!

He makes sounds like "Mmmmmmaaaammma" "Daathda" "mmmmmba" (bottle?). 

He likes being on his tummy and can swirl and push backward, no crawling yet.

For only being 7 months old he sure does a lot!

I love this little guy and all the time we spend together. 

He loves to wear no clothes, just his diaper!

Love this fresh food feeder. It's like popsicles. "Thanks mom, this makes my tooths feel better"

Trying out the sippy cup.


Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Baby Food 101

Making apple sauce

All of the baby food that Jackson has eaten so far, I've made. Besides the oatmeal rice cereal, I've made everything else. It has been pretty cost effective too. We've tried Avocado, Banana, Sweet Potato, Zucchini, Carrot, Apples (sauce), and next is Butternut Squash. 


It has been pretty easy thanks to my handy dandy food processor. This thing rocks!


The baby food making process has been pretty easy and fun too! I love that I know exactly what is in the food that he eats. And color compare, WOW! It's hard to believe the color of the food on the shelves is what it says it is when the color of the natural stuff I make is so different. Carrots are a vibrant orange, zucchini is a neon green, apple sauce smells of warm apple pie. Bananas and avocado are easy, just peel, remove seed (avocado) and mash up real good. The food processor does that too for the other foods.


I freeze the pureed food in ice cube trays and then transfer to a zip lock bag. So easy! Take a cube or two (depending how much baby eats) in the morning to put into a container and leave in the fridge. It should thaw out by afternoon time. Or do it the night before. Wa-la!


When Jackson eats this, I scoop out of the container into a bowl he's eating from. Important: because once you dip into the food, put in mouth and back to food it has been introduced to bacteria. So to keep the food in the container "clean" I just scoop what I need into a bowl. Plus, by only using a cube at a time, I'm saving all the rest for later.


Genius!


Give it a try if you like. The apple sauce is really good. Yes, I tried it. Baked apples with a touch of cinnamon. Pureed. Who says it's just for baby? This might be "baby food" but it's all regular food made for Jackson.

Some of the goodness in the freezer: Carrots, Sweet Potato

For all the recipes and tips, I've used Wholesome Baby Food for help.